130Star, have you read the
3 Fat Chicks book? It's a great review of tons of different diet plans, giving you tips on how to work each and a wonderful "Pros and Cons" list (with lots of info from people here) about each. It might help you figure out what plan is for you.
Be aware that any plan works as long as it's something you can stick with. It sounds like you're doing a good assessment of what you're willing and not willing to do, and I think it's awesome that you want to find something you can really stick with for life. Everyone's different, but when I started SBD in 2004, my doctor told me that the two plans her patients were successful on were Atkins and SBD. She said, however, that her patients on SBD were much more likely to keep the weight off and stay on plan for the long term, so that's what I chose.
Vegetables are a very healthy and important part of an eating plan. The fact that they are low in calories and high in nutrients makes them a basis of almost every plan out there. The truth is, you can eat a lot of them without gaining. You can't say that about most other food. So you may want to bite the bullet and teach yourself to like some of them. That's what I had to do on SBD. I can't begin to tell you how much I HATED veggies when I started. You can read about how I did it (and how others have done it) in the
How To Eat More Veggies When You Hate Them All!!! thread.
In addition, note that eating "high carb" foods isn't actually something that's likely to make you gain weight. However, if you find that you can't eat them in
moderation, that
may be a trigger food for you.
You have to think about what works for your body. SBD teaches you that eating sugar and simple starches (which may also be high carb...there's a big difference between a bowl of oatmeal you cooked on the stove and a piece of toast made from white bread, both of which are high carb but only one of which--the toast--is likely to make your blood sugar skyrocket and then plummet) affect your blood sugar and lead to cravings. We use Phase 1 to detox from the sugar and then introduce fruit and good carbs, which don't cause cravings (if a specific one does, you just don't eat it any more) in most people. That helps you keep your eating in moderation. But it's not a magic cure, and vegetables are definitely a part of it.
If you do decide to switch to SBD or consider it, you may find these older threads helpful (you can search for more by clicking on the "Search Forum" button):
South Beach or Atkins--your opinion
New here--should I try SBD? (discusses SBD, WW, and Atkins)
Did you Switch from another plan to SB?
Have any beachers tried atkins but chose SBD?
From Atkins to SB how did you do it?
Switching to SB- Input Please
